Tuesday, May 23, 2006

In what rates as one of the more surreal moments of my life a trade publication has taken an interest in my recent job change – enough of an interest to post the news to their home page for 24 hours, and send it out as part of a blast email campaign.

I suspect this is one of those purely speculative pieces. My former employer is a well established, privately-held cataloger and any news from an organization that doesn’t talk is, well, news – especially when it makes folks wonder WTF is going on at the company.

Had Internet Retailer called me for comment I could have given them the skinny. Matter of fact, here's my rewrite:

In a bid to lose the extra pounds she’s packed on since her employer relocated their offices from Chicago’s River North neighborhood to the far Northern suburb of Niles, suttonhoo (not her real name) has opted to trade in her 4 hour daily commute for a pleasant 40 minute round trip commuting to an Internet consultancy in Chicago’s Southwest suburbs.

In the 3+ hours that she expects to gain each day she’s resolved to shoot more photos, write more stuff, and build a site or two for friends, as well as spend more time with her darlin’ companion, who was the reason she moved to the impossibly flat Chicagoland in the first place.

I changed jobs to tend to the bookends: To bolster those morning and evening spaces with second cups of coffee; thoughts about nothing in particular and everything at all; shared conversations and kisses -- all the little things that are required to make those bookends stand firm so that the passages they support aren't in danger of sliding off the shelf.